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MARIANNE nursed her third shot of Cuervo, ood in her pathetic life, when the man next to her shouted, “Listen up, sweetcakes: Creationism and evolution are totally compatible”
His spittle landed on Marianne’s neck Shebushy ht out of a seventies porn flick He sat on her right The overbleached blonde with brittle hair of straas trying to i banter was on her left Marianne was the unlucky luncheon meat in their bad-pickup sandwich
She tried to ignore thelass as if it were a dia Marianne hoped that it would make the mustache man and straw-haired woman disappear It didn’t
“You’re crazy,” Straw Hair said
“Hear me out”
“Okay, I’ll listen But I think you’re crazy”
Marianne said, “Would you like to switch stools, so you can be next to one another?”
Mustache put a hand on her arm “Just hold on, little lady, I want you to hear this too”
Marianne was going to protest, but it ht be easier not to She turned back to her drink
“Okay,” Mustache said, “you know about Adaht?”
“Sure,” Straw Hair said
“You buy that story?”
“The one where he was the first man and she was the first woman?”
“Right”
“Hell, no You do?”
“Yes, of course” He petted his“The Bible tells us that’s what happened First came Adam, then Eve was formed out of his rib”
Marianne drank She drank for many reasons Most of the time it was to party She had been in tooit would co with ato nu TheLessened the pain
She had messed up
As usual
Her entire life had been a sprint away fro for the next unobtainable fix, a perpetual state of boredoood and now that she’d tried to get it back, well, Marianne had screwed that up too
In the past, she had hurt those closest to her That was her exclusive club of whom to emotionally maim—those she loved most But now, thanks to her recent blend of idiocy and selfishness, she could add total strangers to the list of victims of the Marianne Massacre
For soers seemed worse We all hurt those we love, don’t we? But it was bad karma to hurt the innocent
Marianne had destroyed a life Maybe more than one
For what?
To protect her child That hat she’d thought
Dumb ass
“Okay,” Mustache said, “Adaot Eve or whatever the hell the term was”
“Sexist crap,” Straw Hair said
“But the word of God”
“Which has been proven wrong by science”
“Now just wait, pretty lady Hear ht hand “We have Adam”—then he held up his left—“and we have Eve We have the Garden of Eden, right?”
“Right”
“So Adam and Eve have two sons, Cain and Abel And then Abel kills Cain”